Dave Boehler has a good article at ye olde newspaper with quotes from the coach himself, GM Paul Fenton, and some player reaction too.

I spoke briefly with Fenton yesterday as well.

As great as it would be to know right away who the next coach will be, Fenton is going to be very thorough again this summer as he’s talking with candidates for this job. And why should he do anything different? Nobody can argue with the quality of the candidates that he has hired over the years, as most of them had great success in Milwaukee and are now coaching in the NHL somewhere.

“I don’t have a timetable for that. I’ll go through the same process as I did when I hired Kirk, and when I hired Lane, and when we hired Claude, and I hired Peter, and I hired Todd Richards….they’re all very fortunate to all come through a great system, great city, great American League city, and a franchise that continues to have success. I’ll go through the same process so that we’ll be able to pick a good coach to fit for Milwaukee.”

If you are a fan who likes the ‘big picture’, I’m sure whoever we get will be great. If you like knowing the news before it breaks, good luck handicapping candidates. The information leaks of the Ian Herbers hiring in Canada? Don’t expect them for this job. I was driving to a wedding in Stoughton when Jason Karnosky texted me the news that Kirk was coming last summer.

But I can tell you who one of the candidates will be, and who one of the candidates won’t be.

Assistant coach Stan Drulia will most definitely be in the mix.

“I will interview Stan,” Fenton says. “He’s been a head coach, he’s now got his foot in the door and I’ve gotten to know him a little bit, and I’d give him consideration for the job right now. I thought he did a very good job (last season), especially coming into a different situation — it isn’t often that you lose your minor league coach to an NHL team as quickly as we did. For him to be able to come in and step away from his duties as a head coach (in the ECHL) and familiarize himself with our organization, I thought he did an admirable job.”

A few readers have suggested that Director of Player Development Marty Gelinas would be a great fit for the position, having a previous relationship with all of the players in the system, and even a few games of assistant coaching experience this past season in the first few games after Kirk left.

I asked Fenton if he knows if Marty has any interest in changing career paths.

“He doesn’t. No, I’ve already spoken with Marty. He has no interest in it.”

So while I’m sure this isn’t something that Paul planned on being on his summer to-do list, I’m sure that when all is said and done, we’ll have another top-notch coach in town. But now we play the waiting game.